A trilogy in seven parts.....hypno's latest efforts

cocalls

Hypno i read your diary from time to time as it gives me so much inspiration i just want to pass on some of my wisdom on ironing as i see this is something that crops up a lot and well you hate doing it.
I too hate it so i've come up with ways to get round it.

1. If you hate ironing so much why is it your task in the house? If your kids are old enough to throw themselves down slopes on bits of wood they're old enough to iron their own clothes. Ditto your hubby-ok there's only two of us in the house but OH irons his stuff i iron mine.Or it could be one of the kids chores as you drive them around so much.
2. are you all changing your clothes too often? Quick sniff test to see if its smelly if not there's no reason to wear clothes a few days running.My Oh proudly informed me that he's been wearing the same shirt all week at work-think this is a little extreme altho it didnt smell.Maybe you could set a challenge (as i know you love challenges) to reduce the wash basket by 10 items/week
3. wear vests each day to keep the clothes off the skin, so they need washing more than the clothes you're wearing and dont need ironing.
4. Dont iron sheets, tea towels, towels etc no need
5.Invest in some good deodrant
6. My mum (who also hated ironing) would take the clothes out of washing machine and lay them ontop of each other on the kitchen cabinet as this got the creases out then put things to dry making sure you give them a good shake and that they're not creased.
7. Only buy clothes that dont need much ironing or if its stuff you wear around house dont iron it.
8.Iron only what you need to i dont tend to have an ironing basket i just put the clothes away and if they need ironing i'll ironing as and when.
9. Buy a superduper iron with lots of steam
10. Only put on 1 dark and 1 light wash per week that way you're not over welmed with loads to do!



Hope that helps!

Life is too short to worry about ironing

hypno06

lilmussmup - you lot were still snoozing so no one to chat to on here.....so I had to take comfort in my calculator and pad of paper :rotfl:

cocalls.....believe it or not, I already do all the things on your list (except vest wearing).....

My children already help me out a lot, they do a fair few chores - bins, recycling, dishwasher, etc, DS usually cooks the main evening meal, they both have paper rounds to get done before school, etc. My house should be spotless, but it still only seems to scratch the surface!

OH does iron his own stuff for work usually......but remember he goes straight from one job to the next one most days, including weekends, so actually isn't about much! He leaves for work with me at 7.30 in the morning, and then gets home at 12.45am. If he is doing his volunteer job, that becomes a 4am homecoming.......I really can't expect him to do much more.

Three or four jobs for one person, though, does mean three or four different changes of clothing, and some of those jobs are very active, meaning that clothes washing is a necessity - perhaps because of "sweat" perhaps because he gets paint/glue etc on them.

I tumble dry.....(bad for the electric bill but good for the "shake and fold method") so as much as possible gets eliminated where I can.

I do iron t-towels because otherwise they don't fit in the kitchen drawer, but I never iron towels, undies, fitted sheets.....children's school uniform is of the "M&S Non-iron" type.....I don't iron stuff that is just for slobbing around in. If you could see me right now.......!

There are five of us in the house, so that does produce a fair bit of laundry - even if we keep it to a minimum (which I do try and do). But with a student who plays football, DS who does rugby, karate suits that need to be kept whiter than white and which don't tumble dry without producing a million creases, there is always something. One light wash and one dark is a nice idea in theory, but with 5, that's just not an option, sadly because it would save on my water bill and electricity too!

We all use good deodrants......but I have teenagers.....need I say more!

I do have a good steam iron - had to buy one recently as my old one died.

I do only iron what I need, when I need it, which is why the pile has gradually built up and built up, and is now quite daunting. Anything that "can wait" does.....it gets added to the heap, then the heap gets a little more daunting, so the ironing terrifies me even more.

It is actually not the "day to day" stuff.....that seems to be constantly ticking over - it is the stuff that can wait, that has now taken over, and is quite depressing because it is now a big big job to do!

So, once more......the key is to:

• Sort out the pile that has built up - put up or shut up......either do it, or throw it.
• Don't let it build up again......

It is the same with my whole house and garden though - which is why I would so like it to be blitzed, so I can actually start again. It is not the every day stuff that is so much the problem, more like the actually getting through the other stuff so I can keep on top of it.

I soooo need a life laundry

shaun40400

space the finale frontier,
this is the journey the the little baarrrrrrrrrking one,
on its five year mission to drive my dad baarrrrrking, (mission accomplished now what do i do )
to boldly go where no baby has gone before,
to explore strange new rooms and stick gods knows what into my mouth,

captains log 2009/5/24
today we entered the bad lands a strange and desolate room where they keep the ironing and washing machines,
managed to survive an engagement with the hoover monster, but got trapped in a cunningly devious trap set by the buckets and mops...side stepped these eventually by crawling down a narrow tunnel to the rear of the machines.. avoided 1st contact
with local populace, a truly giant race that take delight at picking us humans up and putting us down miles from our designated areas,
however with transporters failing to work, i had to call up on the giants to escape the tunnel at the back of the machine,
capt personal log
giant was actually very nice,washed muck of my hands,gave me a big hug and carried me back to the starship,
time for bottle and bed:o

baaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrring or what

hypno06

I'm just a slob........

but I don't want to be.....

lilmissmup - thanks for that, re delivery times. I do usually manage to get a code or two from here which is always much appreciated.

My shop is due this morning, so if I prepare for the next one to arrive a week on Tuesday, that should start getting me in a routine.....

cocalls

eeeeek
so one good thing there'll be less to iron when the student goes?
How about only allowing yourself to put a wash on when the ironing basket is empty? That way it doesn't build up and get daunting.

hypno06

But then my laundry bins will build up and get daunting instead:rotfl:

Forgot to mention - when OH started his volunteer job, they said "wear clothes you don't mind being vomited over".....says it all really :rotfl:

In other news.....have done a dooyoo review this morning.....

lucielle

Can you challenge yourself to iron 10 items a day until pile has gone and then keep on top of it. 6 in our house so I daren't let it build up.
L

shaun40400

what about set wash, iron days as part of the routine
wash days,,, fri Tue Thurs
iron days.... limited to say 45mins ,, sun for school /wk ahead ,, wed to clear the back log,,, then fri for the wkend
anything needed out of these times is a diy task??

hypno06

and that is my point....I *should* be able to do it. It is not rocket science.... I am able.....but it still doesn't happen.

So I feel a failure......which is depressing.....the whole thing becomes scary.....and more daunting.

I know about flylady.....I know about "one room a day", or a designated day each week.

But it doesn't happen. Why not? Because I am lazy.

Bloody hell, I reduce myself to tears over this flippin housework.....as now....so why don't I just sort it out :mad:

doodledo_2

Morning Hypno.

You're not lazy. You work full time, have two children who are always needing taking here and there, you have a hubby who works long hours and isn't there to help, you do god knows how many things online for debt busting so don't ever say you are lazy! Rant over lol